About 1,200 California firefighters are helping to battle wild land blazes in Arizona, Texas and New Mexico.

The U.S. Forest Service has deployed firefighters from
Placerville, South Lake Tahoe and other rural areas throughout the
state, as well as about 60 fire engines and a dozen
bulldozers.

John Heil with the Forest Service office in Vallejo says a
slower than normal start to California's wildfire season means the
agency can spare fire crews.

But he says if an emergency does flare up in California, the
Forest Service will be well-staffed.

"Whether it would be from other places in the country or whether
we would bring those firefighters back, one way or the other we
would have the necessary firefighters to take care of any fires
that we have here in California. There is a good chance that those
firefighters would be brought back."

California fire crews are assigned to more than a dozen separate
blazes in the Southwest.